


Smiling, Always Smiling

by tillyenna



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demons, Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Gritty Will Kill Us All, Gritty is Terrifying, M/M, Magically Induced Migranes, don't hug giant orange monsters, excessive jealousy, excessive use of the colour orange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:47:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24595534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tillyenna/pseuds/tillyenna
Summary: When Travis Konecny makes it to the NHL, he doesn't expect to make a best friend straight away... but there's Gritty.He doesn't expect to find love within the first two years... but there's PattyBut then everything starts to go wrong, Nolan starts getting migraines, and Teeks is left with only Gritty for support.This takes place in an AU where Mascots are being summoned from another dimensionAt least... I really hope it's an AUI really hope.
Relationships: Sidney Crosby/Nathan MacKinnon, Travis Konecny/Gritty, Travis Konecny/Nolan Patrick
Comments: 22
Kudos: 89





	Smiling, Always Smiling

**Author's Note:**

> Huge shout out to @fraudulentzodiacs for the epic beta work, putting up with me not knowing the difference between its and it's, I'm sorry I ruined your birthday cake :D

# 

On Mascots in the NHL

The first NHL Mascot was summoned by the Calgary Flames in 1983, although traditions of summoning Mascots in other professional sports leagues can be traced back to the start of the 20 th century. The Flames summoned The Hound (in some places recorded as ‘Harvey’) in conjunction with CFL Calgary Stampeders. The presence of The Hound, and the resulting curses on Calgary’s closest rivals over the following years has been touted as the reason behind the Flames only Stanley Cup win at the end of that decade.

Before long, The Hound was not the only Mascot summoned to the NHL, and intra-team cursing was rife throughout the 90s, however in modern years, every team has its own Mascot and they often act as deterrents, meaning in recent years the number of curses have reduced, although they have yet to cease all together.

Although there have been Mascots summoned to our plane of existence for nearly a century now, we still know very little about them, it isn’t known where they come from, or even why they agree to stay on this plane with us. There are theories that they feed on the energy of the crowds, the love of the fans, there are also theories that they feed on the blood spilt on the ice, but the more devout hockey players in the league call this blasphemy, blood spilt on the ice is a sacrifice to the hockey gods, not to the Mascots. There are those, who believe that Mascots are a physical manifestation of the hockey gods themselves. They are wrong.

It is worth noting that for many years collegiate and school level teams have used fake mascots as deterrents against real mascots, this is just superstition, and a college student dressed to look as a mascot will not fool a real mascot who wishes to curse you.

Some believe that mascots are able to communicate with us, it is certainly true that a mascot will know the feeling in the locker room, and that a mascot will know which teams are giving it’s team the most trouble, and indeed which players are giving the most trouble. There are reports that the further from a home stadium base a grievance occurs, the less likely a mascot is to retaliate, which leads to the belief that the base telepathy of a mascot has limited distance.

A note on The New York Rangers. It is often reported that The Rangers don’t have a mascot, which is of course ridiculous. If the Rangers didn’t have a mascot, they would be vulnerable to curses and attacks from other mascots, although they do nothing to deny the rumour that it is because the rangers always have a high priest on their team, this is again, not true. Summoning a mascot is a risky business, and if done when a team is not secure in its own image, can result in strange and terrifying looking creatures (see pages 57-64 Gritty, Flyers and pages 78-82 Youppi!, Canadiens). Rumour has it, the summoning of the Rangers Mascot went wrong, and thus it lives under the metro line beneath Madison Square Garden Arena – it hears, there are rumours it sees, but no player has been permitted to visit it since the summoning.

# 

Travis’ first official day as a Flyer is insane – part of him can’t believe he’s actually made it this far, made it through the draft, through camp, and here he is, part of the team. Of course, on one hand, it’s still hockey, and he’s been playing hockey his whole life, but on the other hand, this is the show, and there’s nothing else in the world like it. He’s trying to take everything in, which actually results in him noticing absolutely nothing, which is why he doesn’t notice Gritty until he’s practically on top of him. Travis isn’t an idiot, he knows what Mascots are, and the last thing he wants is to get on this guy’s bad side.

“Gritty,” He grins widely. “Dude, I am so excited to be working with you, can’t believe it man,” he reaches out and claps Gritty on the shoulder before he thinks better of it. “Been a big fan for a while.”

Gritty cocks his head slightly, as if he’s sizing Travis up, and then pats him softly on his head, a faint squeak as he does.

The pressure is hard his first season, there’s no way it wasn’t going to be, and TK finds himself starting his game day routine when he arrives at the rink, by finding a quiet corner to sit in, to reassure himself. The third time he does it, he’s been there for only a couple of minutes, before Gritty’s hulking bulk approaches and sits down beside him.

“Hey Grit,” Travis grins at him. One of the first things people find out about Travis Konecny is that he doesn’t do well with silence, so he finds himself chatting to Gritty more than the others do, whether it’s because he wants to be nice, or just because he finds Gritty’s omnipresent silence uncomfortable.

“You think others feel this pressure?” He looks up at the mascot sat beside him. “I mean, heck, I’m sure they do – we can’t all be back in peewee with someone’s mom cutting up slices of orange for the second intermission.” He chuckles softly to himself, “Still, it helps you know,” he glances at Gritty, almost shyly – there’s no way to tell if Gritty likes or dislikes what you’re saying, “having you out there watching.”

Gritty cocks his head, it’s either interest, or he’s sizing Travis up for something.

“I mean,” Travis nudges him slightly with his shoulder, “Knowing you’ve got my back, and you’re like,” he shrugs, “the most powerful being I’ve ever met or whatever, so it’s nice.”

Eventually, he feels ready to start the rest of his game day prep, so he heads off to warm up with the others, and forgets all about his conversation with Gritty – that is, until he gets back to the locker room for the second intermission.

“What the fuck is that in your locker?” Ghost is staring at him.

Travis looks towards the locker, and there it is, an orange, carefully cut into segments.

“Hey!” He grins, grabbing it, “It’s my second intermission orange.”

“Which of the front office staff are you boning?” Claude sighs at him, rolling his eyes.

“No,” Travis shoves the first slice of orange into his mouth, sucking deeply, before spitting it out to explain, “It’s not like that, it’s from Gritty.”

“Tabernak!” Claude stares at him like he’s insane, “You can’t eat something that thing has given you.”

Travis shrugs, shoving another slice of orange in his face, “You’re just mad that Gritty loves me best.” He mumbles around the orange.

As he heads out onto the ice for the third, he passes Gritty, and pauses for a moment to throw his arms around the giant figure – his fur is surprisingly soft against TK’s face. “Thanks bud,” he grins up at him, “You’re the best.”

It becomes routine, chatting to Gritty before every game – and actually, there’s something about confessing your fears to someone who can’t pass them on to anyone else. The fact that Gritty probably has the power to make all of his fears vanish in horrible ways also helps a bit. There’s once or twice on the ice where someone comes in to check him and stumbles on a rough bit of ice just before they get there where he wonders if it might have been Gritty’s hand in it, but it doesn’t happen too often. The gifts are the most thoughtful part, sometimes it’s snacks, Cheetos, oranges, apricots, once – he’d mentioned he was cold on the plane, and the next time he gets to the rink, there’s a soft orange mink blanket sitting on his stall, a few times he’d come in with a disposable cup of coffee, and there’s a travel mug with a picture of Gritty himself on it. The gifts are, exclusively, orange – he wonders if that’s because Gritty thinks he likes it, or because Gritty likes it, but either way, it makes him smile.

Travis always says thank you for the gifts, his momma raised him right, and now before the games while he sits and chats to Gritty, Gritty will usually wrap an arm around him and let him snuggle into his surprisingly warm side.

They don’t make the playoffs, and that sucks, and locker clean out day is hard, so maybe Travis lets himself be pulled into Gritty’s warm arms a little easier when it’s time to say goodbye, but the thing is, if he cries into Gritty’s fur, no-one can see it.

“You’re the best,” Travis murmurs softly to him, “Like, you’re a really fucking good friend Grits.” He forces himself to look up at Gritty, and he’s got a weak smile for him, “You’ve made this year so much easier.”

Gritty smiles back at him. Gritty’s always smiling back at him.

\---

His second year starts with a revelation as big as the first, because he walks in on his first day of team camp and is struck by the sight of the most beautiful man he’s ever seen.

“Hi,” If nothing, let it always be said that Travis Konecny has balls, “I’m Travis, Konecny, but everyone calls me TK or Teeks.”

“Patty,” The beautiful man mumbles softly, “Nolan Patrick.”

“Oh man!” Travis grins at him, “Dude, I watched your draft, second overall baby!” He claps Nolan on the shoulder, “You’re sweet, you’ve got some fucking sick moves.”

Patty mumbles some thanks, and then, there, standing at the doorway to the locker room, is Travis’ best friend in the Flyers.

“GRITS!” Travis laughs, and throws himself towards the mascot, flinging his arms around his neck, “Dude, I missed you so hard this summer – I’ve missed our little chats.”

Gritty smiles at him, as always, but pats the top of his head with one squeaky hand.

“Hey Patty,” Travis beckons his new friend over, “Have you met our Grits?”

Patrick stays exactly where he is, and waves a nervous hand.

“Dude.” He mutters when Travis is back beside him, “You can’t talk to that thing. You know what it is right?”

“Yeah yeah,” Travis laughs, “Summoned from another dimension, super evil being, wah wah wah,” he shrugs his pads on, “He brings me presents and he’s a fucking good friend man, I’m not judging.”

Nolan nods slowly. “Not judging huh?”

Patty becomes his road roomie, which is both awesome, because, hello, on tap eye candy, and torture, because, well, he shouldn’t really be looking at on tap eye candy. It only gets worse their first night out on the road.

“So,” Travis nudges him on the shoulder, “Big NHL star, shouldn’t be hard to pick up now.”

“Uh,” Nolan looks around the room at all of the assorted puck bunnies, “Not really my kind of scene.” He says softly, almost too quiet for Travis to hear, “Not really my kind of hookups.”

Travis can’t help himself, he knows he shouldn’t ask, but he can’t stop himself. “You queer?”

Patty goes a shade even paler than usual, and he nods.

“No sweat,” Travis pats him lightly on the thigh, “Like, ditto or whatevs.”

“Oh,” That earns him a shy smile from Patty, and Travis loves drawing smiles from Patty.

He nudges him softly with a shoulder, “Maybe one of these days we can persuade the rest of the team to head somewhere you and I might be able to get laid.”

That brings the gold dust to Travis’ life, because the thought of the Flyers in a gay bar makes Patty laugh, and to Teek’s ears, there’s no sweeter sound in the world.

\---

They get closer on the road, and when Nolan knows he’s staying up, (not that he ever wouldn’t have been), Travis offers him his spare room. It’s partly a terrible plan, because knowing that Patty is both queer, and single, and still the most beautiful man in the world, is its own special kind of torture. It’s worth it though, for those moments when Patty’s beautiful sparkling laugh breaks through at something Teeks has said, for those moments he calls him “Trav” which nobody else ever calls him, for those quiet smiles he shoots at him across the locker room, for sitting side by side on the bench, thighs pressed together.

Travis still spends fifteen minutes before every home game with Gritty at his side, sometimes he just tells him about his day, sometimes he tells him about his nerves, sometimes he tells him about his uncontrollable urges over Patty. He tells him how beautiful Nolan is, how irresistible it is living with him – he doesn’t like to tell him about the smiles, because the smiles are private, the smiles are his.

It’s a beautiful season, ok so they lose to the fucking Pens in the playoffs and that stings, but he’s playing playoff hockey, that’s really hockey, and he’s playing it with Patty at his side. Locker clean out day is still hard, but with Patty at his side it’s a little easier, and when Patty mumbles an invitation to come and join him in Winnipeg for a few weeks, it eases the ache in his heart, and they start planning what dates they’ll spend at each others houses before they even make it back to the apartment.

It’s not until he’s on a plane back to Canada that Travis realises he didn’t get a goodbye cuddle from Gritty, but whatever, that big orange fuzzball will still be there next season. No worries about Gritty getting his ass traded.

\---

That summer, they sit on the pier, each of them with a rod in their hand, a cooler of beer sat beside them. When Patty shifts his rod to his offhand, Travis figures he’s just getting tired, but then his free hand slides across the deck in between them, until it’s resting up against where Travis has his own hand. Nolan isn’t looking at him as he hooks his little finger over Travis’ little finger.

“You realise I can feel that, yeah?” Travis says softly, it’s the first thing either of them have said in an hour, home is the only place he’s ever comfortable with the quiet.

Nolan starts to pull his hand away, when Travis’ hand lands on top of it. “Didn’t say stop.” He flashes Patty a grin, “Just thought I’d let you know you’re not chill.”

“Fuck off.” Patty mumbles, lacing their fingers together, “I’m the most chill.”

After another moment of silence, Travis forces himself to ask “Am I reading into this?”

Patty shrugs, “If you wanna?”

“For real Patty,” Travis pulls his hand away and it’s the hardest thing he’s ever done, “Because I have serious feelings about you.”

That tugs a smile at the corner of Patty’s mouth, “Serious feelings huh?”

“Fuck off.”

“I’m good with feelings.” Patty says softly, he’s mumbling, as he always does when he doesn’t want to be heard, “Like, I’m not suggesting we just hook up.”

Teeks turns to him and flashes him a blinding grin, “Do you want to date me Pats?”

Nolan shrugs, “I mean, I’m questioning my judgement right now.”

“Naw,” Travis leans over, and presses a soft kiss to Patty’s cheek, “Your judgement is impeccable.” He’s startled a little when Nolan catches his jaw softly with one big soft hand, turns his face towards him and kisses him. Honestly, until that moment, Travis thought that the best feeling in the world was watching Nolan Patrick smile, but that pales into insignificance when he feels Patty smile against his lips.

# 

“You’re what?” Claude has his head in his hands.

“We’re dating.” Travis repeats.

Claude swears, and then repeats himself in English for maximum impact, “For fucks sake kids.”

“We’ll be professional,” Patty assures him, his fingers are laced Travis, “We’re serious about each other, and we’ve no intention of letting this fuck with the team.”

Claude rolls his eyes, “I can’t stop you.” He assures them, “But I want you two to be careful, I don’t need to tell you what could happen if this gets out.”

“We know.” Travis assures him, and they do, they’d spent the last part of the summer discussing if it was really worth it, if it was worth risking their careers, and they’ve decided between them, that yes, yes it is.

Nolan has agreed to move in with Haysie however, not because he doesn’t want to live with Teeks, but because living with someone you’ve only been dating for a couple of months is a terrible plan, and they’ll be spending time together on the road anyway. They’ve told management, and telling Claude is the only step before telling the rest of the team.

\---

“So,” TK nudges Gritty with his shoulder, he likes to show his affection physically for Gritty, because that’s the easiest way for Gritty to reciprocate it, “You want my summer gossip ey bestie?”

Gritty wraps an arm around him, squeezes him close, and tucks TK under his chin.

“Best. Summer. Ever. Grits. Like seriously. Patty came to stay and we just chilled and fished, and then, y’know.” He nuzzles into the soft orange fur, “He held my hand and told me he wanted to date me, like for real. It’s crazy man, like Patty’s the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen, but he’s also my best friend in the whole world, we spent the whole summer just chilling and fishing and hunting,” he takes a moment, he doesn’t want to share the more intimate details of his summer with Gritty, that doesn’t feel right, but it’s nice to be able to have someone to gush about Patty with. “God, have you seen his fucking cheekbones Grits? I mean, of course you’ve seen his cheekbones, but they’re so fucking beautiful. His hair man, I get to run my fingers through that now, I get to just touch him whenever I feel like touching him.” Travis lets out a little chuckle, “My life is so sweet Grits, I’m in the fucking show man, and I’ve got my best friend in the world by my side, and I get to love him every single second of my life.”

He feels Gritty’s arm around his shoulders tighten for just a split second, and then release him.

“You’re right Grits,” TK grins at him, “I do need to go warm up.”

That game, there’s a fucking beautiful orange smoothie waiting for him during second intermission, he doesn’t know what’s in it, but it tastes amazing. He tries to share it with Nolan, of course, but Pats refuses to go anywhere near anything that Gritty has given him.

\---

The next home game is a bit weird, because they all get orange slices during the second intermission, but one of the others must have stolen Patty’s.

“It’s fine.” Nolan shrugs, “I don’t want anything to do with the weird Gritty gifts. He creeps me the fuck out.”

Claude doesn’t touch his either, in fact, most of the orange slices end up in the bin, which Travis thinks is fucking rude, because Gritty’s only being nice.

He tells Gritty as such, and squeezes him extra hard when he hugs him, “You know I love you man,” he claps his back, “I mean, not like, in love with you, but like, I do love you.”

Gritty looks at him, smiling, always smiling.

\---

“Hey babes,” Travis slides into bed beside Nolan. They’re on a roadie, so they’re sharing a room, and they’ve been out for dinner with the other boys.

“Hey,” Nolan twists around, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. For a moment, they trade soft kisses, Travis slides his tongue between Nolan’s lips, moaning slightly against him as he reaches down to grasp his buttocks.

“Babe,” Nolan says softly, and almost apologetically, “Not tonight, sorry.”

“You ok?” Travis switches instantly from horny to concerned.

“Just got a bit of a headache.” Nolan rubs softly between his eyes.

“Want a massage babe? Can I get you a Tylenol?”

Nolan shakes his head softly, and reaches to press a kiss to Travis’ forehead, “You’re sweet Trav,” he says softly, “But I’ll be ok, probably just not drunk enough water or whatever.

\---

It’s a few weeks later that Travis catches Patty before a game looking even paler than usual.

“You ok babes?” He kneels down in front of him, his hands resting on Patty’s knees.

Nolan nods, leaning forward so his forehead is pressing against Travis’, his hair falling around the pair of them like curtains. “Yeah.” He dared to press a soft kiss to Travis’ lips, “Just feeling a bit sick y’know.” He shrugs, sitting back up, “Probably eaten the wrong thing.” He reaches out to run a soft hand across Travis’ cheeks. “Can you do my skates while you’re there babes?”

Travis nods, and presses a kiss to Nolan’s knee before going to lace his skates for him.

\---

It continues, it’s not every day, but it does feel like it’s getting worse, some days Nolan has a headache, never anything terrible, but always enough to mean he can’t concentrate on what Teeks is saying. It’s not the end of the world, they enjoy spending time together just chilling out and watching trashy fishing shows.

The headaches and nausea get worse throughout the season, and TK finds himself telling Gritty about them.

“Do you think Patty’s sick?” He’s curled up into Gritty’s side, “It’s getting worse, I know it’s getting worse, and he won’t go and see the docs, because they’ll pull him, but he’s going to have to go and see the docs eventually.” He looks up at Gritty’s smiling unmoving face, “You’d know if it was…” he wonders briefly how to phrase what he’s asking, “one of the others like you, trying to hurt him, you’d know that wouldn’t you?”

Gritty tilts his head, looking down at Travis, and then strokes his head softly with one giant orange hand.

“Thanks Grits, you’re like, my best orange fluff ball.” Travis lets his face sink into Gritty’s fur – some days it’s like he’s made entirely of fur, no matter how deep Travis lets his hands sink, he never finds anything but more fur. “I just wish I could persuade him to get some help, stop being so damn stubborn about always being capable of playing.”

He understands, it’s only Patty’s second year in the show, it’s hard, and you want to feel indispensable, you want to feel that the team needs you, and that means not flaking out, and it certainly means not being injured.

\---

He eventually manages to persuade Nolan to see the doctors the first week of the off season. He’d gone straight back to Winnipeg with him, and the flight had had Nolan whimpering in his seat the entire time, clutching his head – he’d thrown up four times, and it wasn’t that long a flight.

The entire summer is filled with doctors visits from that point onwards, and Nolan is eventually diagnosed with Chronic Migraine disorder. It’s bad during the summer, because Teeks can’t train with him, but at least the weeks when they’re together at Nolan’s parents house he can curl up in bed next to Nolan, on days when his head isn’t so bad he can read him cheesy romance novels.

Going back to Philly is hard, and after they travel Nolan is even worse when they get into the city. When he gets to the arena for training camp, Travis finds himself finding Gritty as soon as he enters the building.

“Grits.” His voice is small, “This is too hard.” He grabs Gritty by the hand, ignoring the squeak that it makes, and drags them towards the corner, and then pushes them down to sitting. Ignoring how it looks he climbs into Gritty’s lap, letting the giant orange creature engulf him in his arms.

“I need you.” Travis admits quietly, “I don’t know how to be this mature, I don’t know how to be a responsible partner, I don’t know if what I’m doing is enough for Patty.” Gritty is probably closer to a therapist than an extra-dimensional being at this point. “I’m on my fourth year now Grits bud, and there’s going to be baby rookies looking up to me, and here I am a sniffling mess because my boyfriend can’t play.

Maybe this is what G was worried about huh, maybe this is why he didn’t think Patty and I dating, because something like this doesn’t just take out one player, it takes out two.”

Gritty squeezes him comfortingly, brushing a giant hand across his hair.

“Fuck Grits, I can’t cope without him though. I need my Patty.”

# 

Nolan’s migraines get worse, and the doctors can’t work out why – eventually, he gets sent home, with the hope that being at home will mean his parents can look after him, which reduces the stress on the team, meaning they don’t feel they have to look out for him. Of course, that doesn’t make it easier on TK, but the first home game after Patty leaves he finds a packet of orange Kleenex in his stall, and Gritty gives him extra cuddles before he heads out on the ice.

Teeks starts spending more time with Gritty before games, and he realises how he hadn’t the past year. Perhaps he’d been spending more time with Patty, and hanging out with him before the games, but now Patty’s not here, it’s just him and Grits again, and there’s something almost reassuring about the giant orange fuzzball. Gritty listens to him for one thing, and Gritty never complains about him talking. Sometimes he worries about talking too much around Patty, he doesn’t want to make his migraines worse, but at the same time, he also has no ability to be able to shut himself up, so being able to just have verbal diarrhoea into Gritty’s welcoming arms is incredibly relaxing.

And Gritty’s always there – as Travis confesses to him one particularly gloomy evening. “I know I shouldn’t feel like this, like Patty wants to be well, and I want Patty to be well, and I know sometimes he’s too sick even to be around me, but it sucks, and it makes me feel like he doesn’t want me.” He looks up at Gritty, “’s’why I like you Grits, you always want me.”

Gritty’s arm tightens a little around him, it’s comforting, it’s Gritty’s way of telling him he loves him.

“Love you too Grits,” Travis buries his face in Gritty’s arm, “Love how I don’t have to try with you. I just get to be me.”

It isn’t possible for Gritty’s smile to change size, but when Travis looks up at him he feels like Gritty’s smiling wider than usual.

\---

Eventually, they have to play The Jets, and Nolan agrees to come to the game.

“Hey,” Giroux claps him on the shoulder, “Can we maybe catch dinner after the game, with Konecny of course, there’s something I’d like to talk to you about.”

“Of course.” Nolan nods, his migraines have been better now he’s back home, they’re not gone completely, but they’re nowhere near as bad as they had been at the start of the season when he’d been in Philly.

Teeks plays his heart out for the entire game, the idea that his boy is watching him from the stands makes his heart soar, and every time he’s on the bench, he can’t stop glancing up towards him.

After the game, Nolan leads them to a restaurant, and to be honest, Travis is a little bit disappointed that Claude is coming with them, but when he’d met them after the game Nolan had pulled him into his arms and whispered “Missed you Trav,” before kissing him in front of their whole team, so he’s pretty much walking on sunshine.

Claude jerks his head towards Travis, “Does his singing not make your migraines worse?”

Nolan shakes his head, his smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, “Weirdly, Trav doesn’t make my migraines worse, which is awkward, you’d think he’d be the most migraine inducing person there is.”

“How are they?” Giroux jumps straight in, “Now you’re away from Philly?”

It seems to Travis an odd way to phrase it, he’d have asked if they were better since Nolan got back to Winnipeg.

“Yeah, I mean, they’re still hanging about, but it’s not nearly as suffocating as it felt back in the city.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Claude shakes his head, “I have a theory.”

“I think that’s kind of for the doctors to decide.” Travis stares at him like he’s got two heads, since when has Giroux been a migraine expert.

“I’m worried it’s…” Claude drops his voice low, “A mascot.”

“What?” Travis laughs, “I talked to Grits about this, he wouldn’t let anything happen to one of us.”

“But,” Claude is still talking like he’s worried they’re being listened in on, “What if it’s him?”

Travis can’t even bring himself to speak, what if it’s Gritty? He’s never heard anything more ridiculous in his life.

“It’s a thought.” Nolan admits, “But why?”

“Gritty wouldn’t….” Travis starts, but he’s stopped by Claude’s hand slapping over his mouth.

“Stop saying his name.” Claude hisses.

“You’re being ridiculous.” Travis yanks his hand away, “He wouldn’t do something like that, he’s the sweetest orange furball in the world.”

“To you, yes?” Claude shakes his head, “To the rest of us, no. I think that is the problem, I think it doesn’t like how close Patrick is to you.”

“He doesn’t like me.” Nolan admits, “Like, it feels stupid to admit, but I swear he’s always fucking watching me.”

“I agree,” Claude pats him softly on the shoulder, “I think it’s had it in for you since you and Konecny announced your relationship.”

“It’s not Grits.” Travis slams his hand down on the table, “He wouldn’t do that to me, he knows how I feel about Patty.”

“What if how you feel about Patrick is the problem?”

“You think Gritty’s jealous? Of Patty?” Travis wonders briefly if his captain has been taking something strange. It doesn’t seem like Giroux, but with these ideas he can’t think of any other explanation. “Grits is my friend, why would he be jealous of my boyfriend?”

“He doesn’t speak.” Claude shakes his head at him, “How do you actually know how he feels about you, except that he voluntarily spends time with you.”

“So your theory, which is fucking insane, is that our Mascot is secretly in love with me and has cursed my boyfriend with migraines because he’s super jealous.”

“I mean…” Nolan starts chewing on his bottom lip, “When he puts it like that – it does sound a little crazy.”

“I’d like to take you to speak to an expert.”

Travis can’t believe what he’s hearing, “Who the hell is an expert on Mascot curses?”

“I would like to take you to speak to the High Priest,” Claude sounds serious, even though the words he’s saying are ridiculous, “The High Priest to the Hockey Gods has undergone something similar, and he may be able to help.”

“There’s a high priest of the hockey gods?” Travis can’t help but ask, “I thought the Mascots WERE the hockey gods.”

Claude clips him around the ear, “Stupid boy,” he shakes his head, before turning to Nolan, “I hope you’re with him for his looks, because he’s not got a lot going on in his head.”

Nolan just stares blankly at Claude, whilst he’ll be the first one to tease Teeks about being a dumb hick, he likes to do it himself, not have other people do it.

Claude turns back to Travis, “The Mascots are the opposite to the Hockey Gods, the Gods try their hardest not to interfere in the game, the Mascots do nothing but meddle – perhaps, if this is a Mascot curse, the Gods can protect you, or there is some kind of protection charm that we can put on you, I don’t know.”

“Well,” Nolan looks frankly exhausted, “I’m willing to try it.”

Travis can’t help but feel a little bit betrayed on Gritty’s behalf. “Patty, he wouldn’t….”

Nolan reaches under the table to grab Travis’ hand, “I’m not saying he would babes, I’m saying I’m willing to try anything at this point. You get that right?”

Travis nods, he wants nothing more than to draw Nolan into his arms. They’re in public, so of course he can’t, but he wants it so much it makes his heart ache.

Seeing Nolan in Winnipeg made it harder to part with him again, but with promises that Claude would sort a time and a day for them to go and meet this mysterious priest, he knows it hopefully won’t be long until he sees him again.

As soon as he gets back to the arena however, his first priority is finding Gritty. He lets himself be enfolded in those warm safe arms. “Missed you Grits.” He says plainly, before sinking his hands into Gritty’s fur, marvelling at how far down they go, “Tell me you wouldn’t,” his voice is barely above a whisper, he doesn’t even know why he’s asking, but he needs reassurance from Gritty himself. “Tell me you wouldn’t.”

Gritty’s arms tighten around him, and Travis relaxes, he feels safe with Gritty, he always has done, and Claude is just a batshit old man.

“I knew you wouldn’t,” he says, looking up at Gritty’s always smiling face, “They want me to believe you’ve hurt my Patty, but I know you wouldn’t do that to me.”

Gritty looks down at him, smiling, always smiling, and tightens his grip a little more.

“Heh,” Travis laughs uncomfortably, “I get the message, I know you love me bud, but remember that I’m breakable yeah?”

Gritty smiles, and tightens his grip.

“Grits, buddy, you’re hurting me.”

Gritty still smiles. This time when his grip tightens Travis hears a pop, and his shoulder floods with white hot pain.

“Fuck,” he tries to pull himself out of the Mascot’s arms. “Gritty,” he whimpers, pain is flooding his brain and he can’t think. “Gritty please.” He thinks about yelling, but who would even come, would yelling make Gritty more angry? “Grits?” He tries desperately to look up, and then wishes he hadn’t.

Gritty’s mouth is starting to open, it looks like one of those documentaries on snakes when their jaw unhinges, but from below, it’s frankly terrifying. Inside his mouth is nothingness. Not darkness, not the blackness of space, but just, nothing, it fills Travis with nothing but dread.

“Gritty, please.” He begs, “I’m your friend, it’s me, Teeks, don’t hurt me Grits.”

One second, there is a gaping maw of bleak and terrifying nothingness in front of him, the next, it is replaced with Gritty’s smiling face again. Travis might be pain addled, but he knows there was no movement between one moment and the next. It’s like his brain stuttered, and Gritty’s mouth was closed, and smiling again, always smiling.

“Thanks buddy,” he forces himself to say, he’s forcing himself to look at Gritty, he knows the only way out of this is by letting Gritty think he’s on his side. He can hear voices behind him, knows that the commotion has eventually dragged other members of staff, or maybe other players, Travis doesn’t dare turn his head to look. “Gritty, bud, could you let me go? I’d like to have the trainers look at my arm.”

Gritty cocks his head at him, and then, still holding him with one impossibly strong orange arm, places his squeaker right on Travis’ forehead, and in that moment, the pain in his arm disappears. As Gritty’s grip on him loosens, Travis moves his arm experimentally, it seems to be fine. “I still want it checked out ok Grits, gotta make sure I’m good for the game later.” He can feel what’s expected of him, “You’re still my best bud ok Grits?” He forces himself to keep looking at the monster, even though it makes him feel sick to his stomach to do it. “I’ll catch you before the game.”

As he walks, artificially slowly towards the trainers rooms, one of them walking with him having seen what happened, Giroux catches up with him.

“Let’s meet with your man,” Travis mutters gravely, not looking his captain in the eye.

# 

He’s surprised a few days later, when they get off the plane in Pittsburgh, the day before a game, and Patty is there waiting at the airport for them. It’s late at night, and there’s no media on the tarmac, so he gets to throw himself into Patty’s arms.

“Fuck. I’m really fucking sorry.” Travis can’t help himself, he buries his face in Nolan’s neck.

“Not your fault.” Patty presses a soft kiss to the side of his head, “You didn’t know.”

Travis shrugs, “I mean…” he tries to explain, how they’d all warned him to stay away from Gritty, how he hadn’t listened, how he’d thought they were all overreacting.

“Trav.” And there’s Nolan, with two fingers under his chin, tilting his face up so he has to look him in the eye, “You’re an idiot, but you haven’t done anything wrong.”

Travis hiccups back a sob, “I love you.” He doesn’t mean to say it, it just comes out of his mouth.

“I know,” Nolan has that look on his face, like he’s trying not to smile.

“Did you just….”

Patty slides his arm around Teeks’ waist and steers him after their teammates, “Let's get back to the hotel, we’ve got a big day tomorrow.”

It’s the first time in months that they’ve been able to share a bed, and Travis can’t help but crawl straight into Nolan’s arms. “I’ve missed you so fucking much Nolly,”

“I know Trav,” Nolan presses a soft kiss to his lips, “And it’s shitty, the whole thing is shitty, and I’m sorry for what he did to you.”

“I thought he was my friend.” Travis can’t stop himself now, and the tears start flowing, “I thought he was on our side Pats, I thought he was looking after me.”

“Hey,” Patty slides his hand comfortingly up and down Travis’ back, “I’ve got you Trav, I’m on our side.”

“He was, like, the only person on the team who wasn’t mad at us for being together.” Travis frowns, “Or at least I thought he was, and it turns out, he was even more mad than everyone else.”

Nolan pulls away a little and frowns at him, “Nobody has a problem with us babe,” he presses a kiss to the end of Travis’ nose, “What are you on?”

“Literally when we came out G had a go at us.” Travis wants to complain about the kiss to the end of his nose, it’s patronising as fuck, but he also kind of liked it.

“They worry about us,” Nolan rolls his eyes, and then presses a kiss to Travis’ lips, “But I don’t think they don’t approve of us,” he smiles softly, “Like, why would G even be helping us?”

“To get you back on the ice?”

That makes Patty laugh softly, “If that were the case, he’d make us break up. Gritty would stop being mad, and I’d stop having migraines.”

Travis pauses for a moment, he’d never considered it like that. “Do you think we should break up?” He makes himself ask, “Like, if whatever G’s got planned for tomorrow doesn’t turn out to work.”

Nolan shakes his head, sliding his arms around TK’s waist, “Not ever.” He kisses him again, and then, adds, “I mean, if it doesn’t work I was going to suggest convincing Gritty that we’ve broken up, but honestly, I don’t think we should actually do it.”

“Oh.” Travis blushes, biting his lip, “I mean, me either.”

Again, Nolan rolls his eyes and shakes his head at his boyfriend, “You’re an idiot,” he says softly, “But you’re my fucking idiot and I love you.”

\---

The next morning, Giroux informs Travis that he won’t be going to morning skate, that he’s to join him and Patty, and they’re going for brunch. They arrive at a small café, and are shown to a quiet booth near the back, and as they get there, and see who is sat on the opposite side of the booth waiting for them, Travis feels his mouth gaping like a fish.

“That’s…” he points, tugging on Patty’s sleeve.

“Well duh,” Nolan shakes his head at him, “Like you thought there would be someone else in Pittsburgh who’s apparently a High Priest of Hockey.”

“Please,” Sidney Freaking Crosby says, gesturing across from him, “Take a seat.”

“Thank you for doing this Sid,” Giroux starts with.

Sidney shrugs, and then looks pityingly over at Nolan, “I know what it feels like when Gritty messes with your head,” he says softly, “I’m happy to help, even if this guy has to be here.” He jerks a thumb at Giroux.

“J’ai dit merci,” Giroux mutters petulantly.

“So,” Sid sighs, ignoring his long time rival and turning to Travis, “Why don’t you tell me everything, start at the beginning.”

So Travis does, he tells Sid how he’d befriended Gritty when he first came to the Flyers, tells him about their chats, about the presents. He pauses briefly before telling him about him and Patty getting together, glancing over at both Giroux and Nolan to check that it’s ok for him to share that information. He tells him about spending less time with Gritty, and then the migraines meaning he spends more time with him, and finally, he tells him about Gritty’s reaction when he’d talked to him about it.

“I think Claude’s suspicions are correct,” Crosby says sadly, “But Patrick, please tell me about how the migraines affect you, they’re worse the closer you are to the Mascot yes?”

Nolan nods, “They’re not too bad here, or at home, they’re manageable, but every time I try and get back to Philly they get worse again.”

“But they don’t disappear entirely when you’re away from him?”

Nolan shakes his head, “No, they’re just not as frequent.”

Sid nods in understanding, “My head was always worse in Philadelphia as well, but the symptoms still present here.”

“So how did you get rid of it?”

Sid grins, “Broke Claude’s wrists.”

Claude raises a casual middle finger to him.

“I mean,” Sid sits back in his chair, “That was different, that was about intra-team rivalries, it’s what the mascots are there for. This is different.”

“So how do we fix this?” Travis asks, “I mean, I’m willing to break G’s wrists if that’s what it takes, but it seems kind of pointless.”

To his surprise, Crosby laughs, although that may be just laughing at the willingness of Claude’s teammates to break his wrists. “I think I might have a way, but it won’t be a quick fix.”

“Please,” Nolan said softly, “Like, I’m happy to try stuff.”

“Well,” Sid shoots a sideways glance at Claude, almost looking nervous about what he’s about to say, but he clearly decides to go ahead and say it anyway, “The mascots have never been able to hurt Nate and I, despite clearly disapproving of a relationship between people on different teams.”

Travis takes a moment for that truth bomb to sink in, the idea that not only is Sidney Crosby coming out to him, but he’s just admitted to being in a relationship with Nate MacKinnon.

“I’ve always assumed it’s because the Gods are protecting us.” Sid continues.

“Because you’re the high priest?” Claude asks him.

Sid shakes his head, “That would protect me, but not Nate. No,” he thinks for a moment, “I honestly think it’s because we make each other better hockey players, so our relationship with each other improves the game in general.” He folds his hands together on the table, “The Gods will do a great deal to protect you if they believe that you are working towards the betterment of the game.”

“What do you mean,” Nolan asks, “That you make each other better players.”

Sid smiles, sitting back in his chair as he thinks about it, “We train together, and we’re competitive, so we train harder when we’re training together. We’re both passionate about the game, and we don’t distract each other from it.” He smiles fondly, “It probably helps that Nate idolised me as a young player, but that isn’t everything, it’s about the fact we drive each other harder, we encourage each other to be the best players we can be.”

“That’s sickening,” Travis admits, “But kind of cute.”

Sid frowns at him, and then half agrees with a shrug, “I’m told we’re very sickening.”

“But,” Nolan’s still focused, this matters more to him than to anyone sat around the table, “Trav and I can’t train together, not yet, I can’t even train.”

“No,” Sid agrees, “But that’s not the only thing that will make you a good player, talk about the game to each other, analyse games together, encourage each other to eat on your meal plans.”

“Ugh,” Travis looks at him like he’d just told him to sacrifice a child, “Really?”

“Really.” Sid might have been smiling before, but he’s deadly serious now, “The Gods won’t help you if they don’t think you take their game seriously.” He pauses for a moment, “What are your rituals? The Gods love player rituals.”

Nolan shrugs, “I don’t really have any strong ones.”

“Get some.” Sid tells him, and then turns to Travis, “You?”

Travis shrugs, “I guess talking to Gritty before home games has been my only real ritual.”

Crosby looks like he’s about to be sick, “You involved that… that thing… in your rituals.”

“I know,” Giroux says softly, “It’s like these younger players, well, they didn’t grow up watching the hockey that we did.”

Sid shakes his head sadly, “Cut that out, now.” He instructs, “Find yourself some nice healthy rituals, ones that the Gods will approve of.”

“But…” Travis starts, and for a moment, he wonders why he’s objecting, he wants to say ‘ but Gritty is my friend’ but that really isn’t the case any more, eventually, he manages to whisper out the truth, “But what if he doesn’t like that…”

“It’s a valid point,” Giroux agrees, “When Gritty found out that Travis considered he might be doing this, he dislocated his shoulder.”

“And tried to eat me.” Travis adds with a shudder.

Sid pauses, thinking, “I’m guessing a transfer is out of the question.”

“Yes.” Giroux answers firmly for them, “They’re both staying right where they are.”

“Then you need to be clever,” Sid continues, “Sidestep him, don’t refuse him outright, have good reasons to give him as to why you aren’t coming to him, good reasons why you can’t accept his gifts.”

Travis takes a moment, trying to think, “I mean, I guess I could tell him that the trainers don’t want me hanging out with him anymore, because he hurt me.”

Sid shakes his head, “You’ll need to be smarter than that,” he says, “If you tell him that, you put the trainers at risk. You need to keep him happy, but not have him be part of your rituals.”

“Be nice to Gritty at random,” Travis smiles in an exhausted sort of way, “Got it.”

“I get it isn’t easy,” Sid admits, “But it’s the only option you have right now.”

Travis glances sideways towards Patty, who’s got his eyes shut and is leaning back in his chair, looking like he’s feeling worse again.

“I’ll do anything.” Travis agrees, “Anything.”

# 

They’re home again the next day, and Travis decides to Skype call Patty for ritual ideas – Crosby had been perfectly clear that they need to do this together.

“We should totally have a pre-game kiss ritual,” Travis grins down the camera on his phone, “That way when we win because we have kisses, the hockey gods will be pleased with us kissing.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Patty smirks, in his exact tone of voice that he uses when he doesn’t want to admit that Travis has come up with a good idea, “Besides, I can’t kiss you all the way from Winnipeg.”

“Pre-game phone call then,” Travis compromises, “We can up the ante to a kiss when you get here.”

“Did you eat properly today?” Nolan knows he’s going to be the one to have to remind Travis about the food part of their deal.

“I mean, I did breakfast well, but then I had a snack after practise…” Travis blushes a little.

“Fine.” Patty rolls his eyes at him, “We’ll cook lunch together, go raid your meal stash.”

It’s nice actually, like the least stressful thing Travis has done for a while, just sitting and eating his lunch with Patty via Skype, it means Patty has to eat a little early, but it’s worth it, just to sit there with each other’s virtual company.

The next day is a game day, so Travis has to go to the rink, he forces himself to smile at Gritty as he walks past, fear making his heart beat like he’s just been double shifted. “Hey Grits,” he wonders if Gritty can hear how he’s forcing the smile, “No time for our catch up today,” he pulls an exaggerated sad face, “I over-napped.”

Gritty reaches out and pats his head with a soft squeak.

“Maybe we can catch up during the intermission.” Travis grins, and then spins on his heel to head towards the locker room. He waits until he’s round the corner before letting the breath leave his body in the biggest sigh of relief he’s ever done. Step one, complete.

The next thing he needs to do is going to feel the most awkward, but he’s willing to try anything at this point, so he goes to the equipment guys and asks to borrow a pair of Patty’s skates, “You can have them back after the game it’s just…” he flounders a little.

“Superstition thing?” Harry, one of their equipment guys smiles encouragingly at him as he hands over the skates, “No worries, I can’t see Patrick having a problem with you borrowing them.”

He pops Patty’s skates on his stall, and then digs out his phone hitting dial.

“Hey,” Nolly picks up on the first ring, which means he was waiting for the call, and that does something to Travis’ insides that he’d rather not admit to.

“Hey,” Travis can’t keep the grin off his face, “Pre-game call number one.”

“You realise if you lose this game we’re going to have to think of different rituals.”

Travis waves him off with a snort, “We’re totally winning this game. Honestly, I managed to get past Grits on the way in without throwing up, so I feel like I can do anything.”

He’s surprised to hear a growl from Patty at the other end of the phone.

“Erm, Pats?” It’s so out of character that Travis is worried for a second.

“Idon’tlikehim,” Nolan mumbles all in one quick breath, “He tried to eat you Trav, I don’t like the fact you’re there with him.”

“Oh bud,” Travis laughs, “I’m fine, G is keeping an eye on me, and I’m not planning to be alone with him ok?”

He knows Nolan is shrugging, to be honest, Patty is one of those people who doesn’t translate well over just audio-call, maybe if they lose this game Teeks’ll make him upgrade to video calls before games.

They chat for a few minutes more, before Travis realises he really needs to start getting ready, “Gonna blow me a kiss babe?” He teases.

“No.” Patty responds, surly as always, but after he hangs up, he sends a kissing emoji to Travis, which makes him squeal like a teenage girl, so there’s that.

After he’s mostly in his kit, he picks up Patty’s skates, and lacing them, ties them tightly, before propping them back up in his stall. Lacing Patty’s skates has kind of been one of his things regardless, but he never stressed and made a ritual out of it, now it’s going to one of their things, and honestly he doesn’t even care if it’s a ritual that makes them lose, because when Patty’s here and he’s doing it in person he gets to slide his hands up Patty’s calves, and that’s like a little slice of heaven before each game.

“Did you just lace Patrick’s skates?” Hartsy asks from across the other side of the room.

Travis shrugs, “Yeah.” Like a fucking goalie can chirp him about weird rituals anyway.

“Sweet.” Hartsy grins at him, and Teeks doesn’t know if that makes it better or worse, when a goalie approves of your hockey weird.

They win the game though, so his hockey weird clearly works. He manages to bring himself to grab Gritty in the intermission to babble at him for five minutes about the game, and it doesn’t help clear his head like it used to, which would be the absolute worst, except not having Patty is the absolute worst, so like, Gritty turning out to be evil after all, comes in only second on his list of all the worst things.

The next game is at home again, and Travis ties a second tie around his neck before leaving, and then just loops it uselessly over the doorknob. He tells Gritty he has to meet with the trainers, but throws him an orange in apology – which is like double whammy because it gets him out of talking to him, but still makes him think they’re friends. Plus Gritty’s hand squeaks when he catches it, and even if he is the most terrifying thing in Travis’ life right now, that’s still pretty funny.

He tells Nolly about the tie on their phone-call.

“You did what?” Patty sounds pissed, “Now, if you lose this game I’m going to have to find someone else to tie my tie for me for every game.”

“I mean, tying your skates helped…” Travis starts, and then realises he’d never actually confessed that one to Patty.

“That’s seriously gay Teeks,” He can hear the distain in Patty’s voice, the one he uses when he’s trying not to find Travis adorable.

“You’re my boyfriend Patso, I’m pretty sure I’m allowed to be gay about you.” Travis frowns for a moment, “In fact I’m pretty sure being gay about you is positively encouraged at this point.”

“Encouraged by Sidney Crosby,” Patty giggles, and then they’re both giggling down the phone at the ridiculousness of their lives, because Sidney Crosby told them they needed to be the most adorable hockey couple ever.

“You think he and y’know, call before games?” Travis doesn’t want to say any names, Patty might be at home on his own, but Travis is at the rink, there are people who could overhear.

“I mean, Crosby does have a lot of rituals.”

When they hang up the phone, Travis gets another kissing emoji, and he grins all the way through the game, which they win.

# 

After a week of straight wins, Giroux corners him, “How’s Patrick’s head?”

“I… uh…” Travis blushes dark red, “I mean, I haven’t actually asked.”

That gets him a smack around the side of his head, “Idiot boy,” Giroux sighs, “He’s your boyfriend for one thing, you should be checking up on him. And that’s the reason behind what you’re doing. Call him.”

Travis doesn’t know how to admit that he’s too scared to ask, in case Patty says they’re worse, or even just not different, because then where would they be?

Giroux must pick up on some of it though, because he pulls out his phone and types out a message. Minutes later he turns back to Travis and says “Your boy says he’s feeling better this week, so whatever you’ve been doing, keep it up.”

The next time they have a home game Travis can’t think of a reason to avoid Gritty however, so they sit and have their chat before the game, but then when he goes to call Patty afterwards, he only hears a whisper on the end of the phone

“I know you don’t do quiet Trav, but for the love of god, I can’t cope with anything right now.”

“Fuck.” Travis whispers, “I’m sorry. When did it start?”

“It’s just come on really suddenly,” Patty says softly and Travis feels his heart sink. When they go on to lose that game his mind is made up.

“I can’t talk to you before games anymore Grits,” Travis lets a note of sadness creep into his voice, “We lost the last game, I can’t risk it… you understand superstitions don’t you?”

He hopes Gritty doesn’t hate him for the superstition, and he promises to catch up with him another time, and hands him a bag of Cheetos. He briefly thinks that Gritty would probably appreciate a child sacrifice more, but he doesn’t know where he’d find a bright orange child to sacrifice anyway. Gritty takes the Cheetos anyway, and doesn’t follow him, so Travis is vaguely hopeful.

It takes another few weeks of clean eating with each other, Travis’ rituals before every game, until Patty calls him with the best news. “I’m coming back to Philly Trav.”

“No way.” Travis tries to avoid shouting down the phone, “For reals?”

“Flight’s booked for tomorrow.”

“What if…” Travis makes himself voice his fears, “What if you get worse again.”

“Then we’ll deal with that if it happens, but I’m coming back, and I’m cleared for off ice work-outs.”

“Fuck” Travis brings his knuckles up to bite on, “Babe I literally can’t wait.”

\---

He isn’t able to pick Nolan up from the airport the next day, but he’s straight over to Haysie’s place after practise, and shoots straight into Nolan’s arms.

“Ugh,” Patty presses a kiss to his lips, “Do you have to.”

Travis winds his arms around Patty’s neck, “You’ve missed me,” he smirks.

“Never.” Patty grins at him, and even though Patty was the one who went away, Travis is the one who feels like he’s coming home.

Nolan still doesn’t get to travel with him, but they go to the gym together, and he gets to stay over at Travis’ place every single night, and now their shared lunches are in person. The first home game that Patty comes to with him, he grips Travis’ hand so tight on the way in Travis is a little worried he isn’t going to be able to play. He still flashes a grin at Gritty of course, and says “Look who’s back Grits,” because that’s a normal thing that old Travis would have said, but when they get to the locker room, Nolly pulls him into a short fierce hug.

“My Teeks.” He says quietly.

“Yeah yeah buddy,” Travis snuggles in for a moment, relishing it. He still gets Patty’s skates from the equipment room, and they’ll still have to stay on the bench in the locker room, he doesn’t get to lace them onto Patty’s feet, but he gets to have Patty here with him. When it gets time for Nolan to head to the press box where he’ll be watching the game, he pauses, lacing his fingers through Travis’ and mumbling something about rituals.

“Go on then,” Travis grins up at him, loving the way Nolan’s cheeks flush darker, something he’d never admit to.

Nolan sighs, but pulls him closer, and tilts his head down to kiss him. “Good luck out there Trav,”

“Heh,” Travis mutters against his mouth, softly so no-one else could hear them, “Crosby approved kissing.”

\---

There isn’t enough of the season left for Patty to get back on the ice for real, but he’s getting so much better that they spend the off-season training together, just like Crosby and MacKinnon do. In fact, they’re even invited over to Cole Harbour for a week to see what it’s like, which is both terrifying and awesome to Teeks. MacKinnon’s considerably less scary than Crosby though, and Travis comes to realise that Crosby is much less scary when he’s hanging out with MacKinnon – plus, they know about Patty and Teeks, so when they’re all sat out back on the deck, watching the sun set, Travis can reach out and slide his little finger over Patty’s.

“You have no chill.” Patty states softly, echoing what Travis had told him two summers before.

“I don’t need chill,” Teeks grins at him, “That’s what I keep you around for.”

\---

Across the border in Philadelphia, it’s prospect camp for 2020, and Gritty ambles through the corridors.

“Woah.” One of the prospects stares up at him, “It’s actual fucking real life Gritty.” He unzips his hoodie, to reveal a gritty t-shirt underneath. “Dude, mad props, I’m a huge fan.”

Gritty looks down at him… and smiles.

# 

**Author's Note:**

> Hit me up on tumblr @princesstillyenna unless you blog loads of gritty pictures - in which case. I'd thank you not to.
> 
> They tell you to write what you know... and what I know is that Gritty is a terrifying extra dimensional being who wants to kill us all.


End file.
